Blockbuster cannon

The 75mm Blockbuster cannon is perhaps the most powerful gun ever to be placed on a production aircraft. The sheer devastating power of the Blockbuster is its greatest advantage - Blockbuster shells are designed to punch through armor of any thickness, flatten ground buildings of any design and destroy opposition of any strength. This power is hampered by the sheer weight of the cannon and its ammunition - even aircraft specially designed for the Blockbuster can rarely carry more than two dozen shots for the weapon.

The Blockbuster also suffers from specific design issues. The force of the recoil means that the weapon must be mounted directly under the cockpit, otherwise the rotational force inflicted on the pilot will induce unconciousness. The length of the shell means that no interruptor gear will prevent the shell from being struck by propellor blades, so the weapon cannot be mounted behind a propellor. The weight of the gun requires the fuselage to be specially reinforced, which increases the stiffness of the craft and reduces manouverability to dangerous levels.

The Blockbuster was originally developed by the Krupp weapons company of Essen, Germany. Krupp made it available to Focke-Wulf on the direct orders of the Führer.

So far, the Blockbuster has only been deployed on the Focke-Wulf Fw 206 Doppleganger, which, with the exception of the entire first run, has sold remarkably poorly.